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Pope at Audience: If we destroy Creation, it will destroy us

21/05/2014

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(Vatican Radio) “With the gift of knowledge, the Spirit leads us to grasp the value
and beauty of people and the realities that surround us, but also their limitations”,
said Pope Francis Wednesday as he continued his series of lessons dedicated to the
seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Emer McCarthy reports:

The Summer season arrived
early in Rome this Wednesday with midday temperatures hitting 28°. Gazing out over
the massive crowd, Pope Francis reflected that “the gift of knowledge helps us to
avoid falling prey to excessive or incorrect attitudes. The first lies in the risk
of considering ourselves masters of Creation. Creation is not a property, which we
can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a
gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we
use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude”.

And
he urged people to nurture and safeguard Creation as God’s greatest gift to us, because
while God always forgives, Creation never forgives and – he warned – if we destroy
Creation, in the end it will destroy us!

His warning was particularly welcomed
by a representatives of the indigenous peoples of the world association 'The spirit
of the planet', who attended the papal audience. (See Photo)

Below, please
find a Vatican Radio transcript and translation of the Holy Father’s catechesis:

Pope
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good day! Today I want to highlight another gift of
the Holy Spirit, the gift of knowledge . When we speak of knowledge, we immediately
think of the human capacity to learn more about the reality that surrounds him and
to discover the laws that govern nature and the universe. The knowledge that comes
from the Holy Spirit, however, is not limited to human knowledge: it is a special
gift, which allows us to grasp, through Creation, the greatness and love of God and
His profound relationship with every creature.

1. When our eyes are enlightened
by the Spirit, they open to the contemplation of God in the beauty of nature and the
grandeur of the cosmos, and lead us to discover how everything speaks to us of Him
and everything speaks to us of His love. All this arouses astonishment and a deep
sense of gratitude in us! It is the feeling we experience when we admire a work of
art or any marvel that is the result of the genius and creativity of man: before all
of this, the Spirit leads us to praise the Lord from the depths of our hearts and
recognize, in all that we have and are, a priceless gift from God and a sign of His
infinite love for us.

2 .The first chapter of Genesis, at the very beginning
of the Bible, shows us that God delights of His creation, by repeatedly emphasizing
the beauty and goodness of all things. At the end of each day, it is written : "God
saw that it was good" ( 1,12.18.21.25 ) …but if God sees that Creation is something
good and beautiful, we too must have this attitude, we must see that Creation is something
good and beautiful. The gift of knowledge, of this beauty, we have to thank God for
having given us this gift, this beauty! This is the path…and when God finished creating
man, He didn’t say that “it was good”, He said that it is “very good!”, He draws us
close to Him. And in God’s eyes we are the greatest, the most beautiful, the best
things about Creation…”But father the Angels? No the Angels are beneath us! We are
more than the Angels! We heard it in the Book of the Psalms! God really loves us!
We have to thank him for this!

The gift of knowledge places us in profound
harmony with the Creator and allows us to participate in the brightness of His gaze
and His judgment. And it is in this perspective that we can grasp in man and woman
the summit of Creation, as the fulfillment of a plan of love that is imprinted in
each of us and that makes us recognize each other as brothers and sisters.

3
. All of this is a source of serenity and peace and renders the Christian a joyful
witness of the God, in the wake of St. Francis of Assisi and many saints who were
able to sing and praise His love through the contemplation of Creation.

At
the same time, however, the gift of knowledge helps us to avoid falling prey to excessive
or incorrect attitudes. The first lies in the risk of considering ourselves masters
of Creation. Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even
less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that
God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always
with great respect and gratitude.

The second incorrect attitude is the temptation
to limit ourselves to creatures, as if they can provide the answer to all our expectations.
With the gift of knowledge, the Holy Spirit helps us not to give in to all of this…but
I would like to return to the first wrong path…Custodians Creation, not Masters of
Creation it is a gift that the Lord has given us, to us! We are Custodians of Creation.
But when we exploit Creation we destroy the sign of God’s love for us, in destroying
Creation we are saying to God: “I don’t like it!. This is not good!” “So what do
you like?” “I like myself!” – Here, this is sin! Do you see? Custody of Creation
is custody of God’s gift to us and it is also a way of saying thank you to God. I
am the master of Creation but to carry it forward I will never destroy your gift.
And this should be our attitude towards Creation. Safeguard Creation. Because if
we destroy Creation, Creation will destroy us! Never forget this!

Once I was
in the countryside and I heard a saying from a simple person who loved flowers and
he nurtured these flowers and he said we must nurture these beautiful things that
God has given us. Creation is for us to use well, not exploit to nurture…because do
you know father, God always forgives - Yes it is true God always forgives…We men,
women, we forgive sometimes – Yes sometimes we forgive, not always …But father Creation
never forgives! And if you don’t custody Creation it will never forigive you”.

This
should give us pause for thought and ask the holy Spirit for the gift of knowledge
that Creation is a gift from God, a gift for the best thing He created which is the
human person…

Thank you

Below, please find the English language
summary of the Holy Father’s catechesisDear Brothers and Sisters: In our
continuing catechesis on the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, we now consider the gift
of knowledge. Through this spiritual gift, we are enabled to see every person, and
the world around us, in the light of God’s loving plan. In a sense, we see the beauty,
harmony and goodness of all creation with the eyes of God its maker. As is clear from
the lives of Saint Francis of Assisi and so many other saints, the gift of knowledge
gives rise to grateful contemplation of the world of nature and joyful praise of the
Creator. The perspective given by this spiritual gift leads us to respect God’s gift
of creation and to exercise wise stewardship of its resources for the benefit of the
whole human family. It also prevents us from restricting our vision to the persons
and things of this world alone, forgetting that in their order, value and beauty they
point beyond themselves to God, their source and ultimate end. Let us ask the Holy
Spirit to help us grow in the knowledge which enables us to perceive the love with
which God guides the world, to respond with gratitude and to praise him for his infinite
goodness and love.

I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims taking part in
today’s Audience, including those from England and Wales, Scotland, Sweden, Norway,
India, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa, Canada and the United
States. Upon all of you, and upon your families, I invoke the joy and peace of the
Risen Lord. God bless you all!